On the surface, the various divisions of Rhine Lab were not close.
Aside from the Defense Department, which everyone disliked, each department had its own financial backers and sponsors, naturally leading them to different stances.
Therefore, the Structure Department, Ecology Department, Energy Department, and Engineering Department, while often collaborating in their work and developing new projects through different research directions and interdisciplinary studies, were essentially still only bound together by mutual interest.
It's said that scholars look down on each other, but scientists are no different; Parvis's death even led many to applaud, eager to carve up his resources...
However, collective interests are one thing, but even Geniuses who ignore the outside world have their own lives as young people—
It wasn't strange to occasionally see Operators from different departments with close personal ties, like Silence and Saria.
Rhine Lab Headquarters Building, 10th Floor, Engineering Department, Lutra Workshop.
Although it was called a workshop, Lutra Workshop had only one member.
The purpose of establishing a workshop was, firstly, to make a name for oneself, and secondly, to legally avoid taxes; any inventor with their own patent would set up a workshop for convenience.
And the sole member of Lutra Workshop was Rhine Lab's most outstanding Genius engineering inventor.
"Oh dear, Mipo, what's wrong, Mipo—it's malfunctioning, waaaah, it's going to explode!"
A grey-haired, grey-eyed Anatidae Nona, with several mechanical arm devices on her back, was doing a dramatic reading in a flat, emotionless voice, while deliberately making sparks fly from a four-legged robot connected to her by wires.
Crackling—
Finally, with a burst, the Mipo-model robot emitted a violent electromagnetic pulse, causing nearby electrical appliances to shut down temporarily.
"Alright, all electronic devices around here will be down for a while... So, I'm just a device repairer, why did you drag me onto this pirate ship! If something goes wrong, the director can't protect me. I looked for this job for so long, and it wasn't easy to set up my own small workshop—I shouldn't have eaten your food."
Hugging the small robot she invented, her arms squeezed her ample chest, wrapped in a black sweater beneath her orange overalls, making it particularly noticeable—Mayer, the Engineering Department's electrical engineer, complained with a mournful face to the handsome man much taller than her behind her.
"Goki, I originally thought you just wanted to hit on me, but I didn't expect you just wanted to use me as a tool, you scoundrel—I really should just marry Mipo!"
Placing the temporarily shut-down wire-controlled robot "Mipo" on the ground, Mayer feigned anger and ran in front of Goki, extending her soft, weak hand to lightly tap Goki's chest.
She had no connection to the Ifrit Project, only occasionally providing equipment repair work or fabricating corresponding devices according to the requirements of various departments.
If there was any connection, it was that she had a close personal relationship with Operator Silence, and through Silence, she got to know Operator Goki, who was somewhat handsome and a much better cook than herself.
Along with several other girls, Mayer, a Researcher who usually had little presence, had been treated to many meals by Goki these past few days—the hotpot was truly delicious. Even though she had been to Yan Country restaurants, she had never tasted such authentic and delicious Yan Country cuisine.
But as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Sure enough, after Goki had fed her for a week, he finally revealed his true intentions and asked Mayer for help.
However, what Mayer didn't expect was that before she could finish her complaints, the man in front of her suddenly moved, gently pulling her into his embrace.
"Alright, Mayer, I'll take responsibility. You just have to give birth to the child, and I'll give her, you, and Mipo the same love!"
At these words, Mayer's face immediately flushed, and she quickly broke free from Goki's embrace, her ample chest beneath her sweater swaying with the movement of her arms, looking particularly bouncy.
"Stop, stop, stop—I was just joking, it hasn't gotten to that point yet! Don't suddenly hug me."
"You know it hasn't gotten to that point, huh? With your lack of caution, if I were a man with bad intentions, ten months from today would be our child's birthday."
Goki quickly let go and flicked Mayer's forehead with his finger.
Of course, Goki couldn't possibly woo this future Rhodes Island Operator, known as Mayer, Rhine Lab's great tech expert, after only two weeks of knowing her.
Even if he considered himself dignified, highly talented, handsome, and powerfully built, and even if Operators' trust in him immediately soared to one hundred upon meeting, he, staying at Rhine Lab, didn't have the time to truly fall in love.
Including Mayer, he had made many good friends, all of whom were Operators he was already familiar with.
"Hmph, there are too many scoundrels—let's talk about whatever it is quickly. Don't drag me into it. I just want to honestly collect my patent fees to strengthen my Mipo Legion. I don't care about anything else. I know about the Ifrit Project and many things, but I've signed a confidentiality agreement."
Mayer stuck out her tongue at Goki, picked up Mipo, and left the workshop's reception area to Goki—and three other girls.
Mayer knew two of them well: Researcher Magellan, with her short brown hair, and Ptilopsis, a good friend she also met through Silence.
However, there was another girl with long blue hair, who seemed exceptionally quiet, holding a deep blue sphere in her arms, and Mayer didn't know who she was.
"Alright, alright, Goki definitely won't make excessive demands, Mayer. We just need to help where we can."
Sitting on the sofa in the reception room, Magellan wore a bright smile, toying with a small drone in her hands.
"And since it concerns Ifrit's future, I certainly can't stand by and do nothing, Goki. As long as it's something I can help with, I definitely won't stand idly by—come, sit down and tell us slowly."
Patting her ample chest beneath her brownish-grey sweater, which was no less impressive than Mayer's, Little Penguin, still dressed warmly, moved closer to Goki and affectionately linked her arm through his.
During her days at Rhine Lab, Magellan, being a warm-hearted person, initially found it a bit difficult to adjust because everyone in her department was a cold and focused Researcher.
But fortunately, with the help of Goki, a Defense Department employee, Magellan had become familiar with her work and successfully signed up for the next polar expedition team.
Moreover, during this time, this girl from a remote city in Columbia, also enjoyed the prosperity of Columbia with Goki.
Goki helped Magellan set up her office and dormitory, and on weekends, he took her to many interesting places.
He made Magellan realize that the unknown lands to explore were not just uninhabited wildernesses, but also fascinating human landscapes.
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